Happy Medicaid Monday! This is the second of five blog posts each focusing on Medicaid and what you need to know to maximize the benefits of this mainstream resource for people experiencing homelessness. Check out week one's post here.
After reading through, make sure to look out our new resource on Medicaid that outlines basic steps Continuum of Care (CoC) leads can take to advance their efforts with securing Medicaid as a resource as part of the local system of services. Using Medicaid to Pay for Services in PSH: Steps for CoC Leads to Get Started was created by the Alliance in conjunction with Techinal Assistance Collaborative (TAC) and CSH.
Understanding What You Have and What You Need – how to get started
- Medicaid will not pay for everything. Medicaid is an individual based insurance program. So, using it to pay for program staff, which is our goal, gets tricky because not everyone is eligible at all times and for all services. This makes it difficult to pay for staff for time that is not billable. Other arrangements can be made and other funds can be used to fill this unbillable time.
- Supportive Housing providers have options. Providers can either become Medicaid billers, which requires some additional administrative capacity and flexible funds, or they can contract with Medicaid billers for these services. In addition, some states have benefits that do not require intensive billing or have Managed Care Organizations or other arrangements that can make Medicaid more accessible for your programs.
- You will need help. This is a complicated process that requires many stakeholders to work together. Our resource includes key resources and technical assistance opportunities that can help you along the way.